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TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM BLACK CEMETERIES IN MADISON
COUNTY, TENNESSEE, compiled by Jonathan K T. Smith
COPYRIGHT, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995
Special thanks go to Jonathan K. T. Smith for his work to preserve and share this information about black
cemeteries in Madison County and for giving permission to convert this work to web pages.
EASTSIDE CEMETERY AND MT.
OLIVET CEMETERY
Eastside
In December 1878, John Lake, sexton of Riverside Cemetery, urged the Jackson
city council to make "arrangements for more ground for the purpose of burying colored
people. That part of the cemetery set apart for that purpose is nearly occupied .... "
(Council Minutes C, page 132) In the early 1880s the city acquired 3 acres ofland about
a mile east of court square, on the north side of Chester Street for use as a cemetery for
black citizens of the town. This location was more particularly described in the LAWS
AND ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF JACKSON, prepared by Pleasant B. Robinson
and David H. Haynes, Chapter 7, Article I. (Jackson, 1888), pages 68-69. "That the city
having established and provided a burying ground for the colored citizens, as hereafter
provided, no permit shall be issued for the interment of colored persons in said cemetery
/Riverside Cemetery/ except to such as of them as own lots therein. That the lot of ground
belonging to the city of Jackson, lying on the north side of the Jackson and Mifflin Road
/East Chester Street/, about a quarter of a mile beyond the eastern boundary line of the
corporation, containing three acres, more or less /actually four acres/, be and the same is
hereby devoted, dedicated and established as a cemetery for the colored citizens of
Jackson, to be known and designated as 'Eastside Cemetery."' This ordinance was based
on "legislation" of the Council in 1887. This cemetery was laid off into lots.
Eastside Cemetery served its useful purpose for about ten years. In February 1886
it was noted that in the past year alone 63 interments had been made there.(Council
Minutes,1883-1887, page 500) By early 1893 the Council decided to close the Eastside
Cemetery and acquire other land for a burial ground for the colored citizenry, that and the
Jewish cemetery, as it was feared that drainage was such that water would pass through
these burial areas and contaminate the city water-works. In May 1895 the Council
provided that four acres be purchased from Robert A. Hurt adjoining Mt. Olivet
Cemetery, north of Jackson and burials were forbidden to be made thereafter in Eastside.
Persons with lots there, however, were automatically allowed lots in the newer burial
ground, which beeame a part ofMt. Olivet Cemetery (Council Minutes G, pages
240,331 ,503,587,603)
For several years the Eastside Cemetery lay unused, fenced in. Early in 1902 the
Council was at the point of selling the Eastside tract but a black man, Lawrence Ellison,

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS FROM BLACK CEMETERIES IN MADISON
COUNTY, TENNESSEE, compiled by Jonathan K T. Smith
COPYRIGHT, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995
Special thanks go to Jonathan K. T. Smith for his work to preserve and share this information about black
cemeteries in Madison County and for giving permission to convert this work to web pages.
EASTSIDE CEMETERY AND MT.
OLIVET CEMETERY
Eastside
In December 1878, John Lake, sexton of Riverside Cemetery, urged the Jackson
city council to make "arrangements for more ground for the purpose of burying colored
people. That part of the cemetery set apart for that purpose is nearly occupied .... "
(Council Minutes C, page 132) In the early 1880s the city acquired 3 acres ofland about
a mile east of court square, on the north side of Chester Street for use as a cemetery for
black citizens of the town. This location was more particularly described in the LAWS
AND ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF JACKSON, prepared by Pleasant B. Robinson
and David H. Haynes, Chapter 7, Article I. (Jackson, 1888), pages 68-69. "That the city
having established and provided a burying ground for the colored citizens, as hereafter
provided, no permit shall be issued for the interment of colored persons in said cemetery
/Riverside Cemetery/ except to such as of them as own lots therein. That the lot of ground
belonging to the city of Jackson, lying on the north side of the Jackson and Mifflin Road
/East Chester Street/, about a quarter of a mile beyond the eastern boundary line of the
corporation, containing three acres, more or less /actually four acres/, be and the same is
hereby devoted, dedicated and established as a cemetery for the colored citizens of
Jackson, to be known and designated as 'Eastside Cemetery."' This ordinance was based
on "legislation" of the Council in 1887. This cemetery was laid off into lots.
Eastside Cemetery served its useful purpose for about ten years. In February 1886
it was noted that in the past year alone 63 interments had been made there.(Council
Minutes,1883-1887, page 500) By early 1893 the Council decided to close the Eastside
Cemetery and acquire other land for a burial ground for the colored citizenry, that and the
Jewish cemetery, as it was feared that drainage was such that water would pass through
these burial areas and contaminate the city water-works. In May 1895 the Council
provided that four acres be purchased from Robert A. Hurt adjoining Mt. Olivet
Cemetery, north of Jackson and burials were forbidden to be made thereafter in Eastside.
Persons with lots there, however, were automatically allowed lots in the newer burial
ground, which beeame a part ofMt. Olivet Cemetery (Council Minutes G, pages
240,331 ,503,587,603)
For several years the Eastside Cemetery lay unused, fenced in. Early in 1902 the
Council was at the point of selling the Eastside tract but a black man, Lawrence Ellison,